Rs 100 ticket selling for 500 outside stadium

The Newsline reporter had no trouble locating the "entrepreneurs"; despite the PCA’s anti-black marketing steps, the sellers were openly conducting their business barely 100 yards from the stadium and in the Phase X market.

The massive police presence in and around the stadium had no effect on the trade. The market is decidedly bullish with the black market rates rising rapidly as the big day approaches.

Meanwhile, coloured lights will illuminate the exterior of the PCA stadium and Club House with the colour changing every seven minutes. It is for the first time that fans will be treated to such a light show at the stadium. Several large projectors were installed for this purpose today.

Inside the stadium, more systems for projecting messages, logos and slogans are being installed. A total of 95 projectors and gobos (handy projectors) have been put in. Between the break between the two sessions of play, the ground will be illuminated disco-style with colours changing in tune to the music. According to PCA design consultant Acchar Pal Singh, the machines have been hired at a cost of Rs 2 lakh.

Grass in the field has been cut in a special sundial pattern and dressing rooms as well as the area around the scoreboard will be decorated with flower arrangements. According to PUDA Additional Administrator Seema Jain, improvement work in the township has been speeded up in view of the coming match.